I dunno…
I do use samples but I’d never sample a hook from a song or a recognizable loop.
If I do take something I’ll mangle it and make it my own.
That single where he samples the main vocal hook from “21st Century Schizoid Man” just makes me want to listen to the original.
That’s not genius, it’s musical theft IMO.
The single and video were interesting.
The most interesting thing to me (and I’m not being sarcastic) was the extreme brevity of the song. Was kind of cool how it was just BAM and then it’s over.
The King Crimson song still owns that shit any day though.
And I’ll never take the “one man performer” thing totally seriously, except for like a NIN scenario where he augments it with a live band.
Hip Hop live is almost always a joke, and I don’t think Kanye is any exception from what I’ve seen…
Whenever rapper’s (most of the time) sample a loop or riff from another song, it’s not like their taking it all for themselves. Credit is given and the artist makes a song. I think you’re thing is that you’re thinking of it as making a profit. Stealing a sample from another song and making a profit can be fucked up, but if a musician is distributing it on Youtube or any other site for free, who the fuck cares. Out of Space by the Prodigy has a fairly recognizable sample, yet the rest of the song is built from it and it’s actually used in a creative manner. You just sound like every other “Industrial” guy that’s thinks “rap is crap”.